|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||
|
|
Reviewed by Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane After the slightly faster-paced events of volume 4, volume 5 of We Were There feels more like the first three volumes: not a whole lot happens, and yet the story doesn't drag in the slightest. At the end of vol. 4, things between Yano and Nanami took a not-entirely-surprising turn for the worse when Nanami realized that, despite the way he's often spoken of her, Yano still loves Nana-san. Figuring that there was no way for her to compete with a dead girlfriend he still misses, Nanami broke up with him. To give Yano some credit, he's spent most of the series making a valiant effort to be a good boyfriend to Nanami, although he's so messed up that he hasn't always succeeded. Now that she's broken up with him, he realizes pretty quickly that he really wants her back, but it's hard for him to argue his case when she avoids him as much as possible--and worse, is spending time with his friend Takeuchi, who's developing a real crush on her. Nanami, for her part, is determined not to let Yano talk to her and shake her resolve, and also isn't convinced that Takeuchi actually has feelings for her. It all sounds very ordinary, but its ordinariness is what makes it so believable. We Were There doesn't rely on unexpected plot twists or even on unusual situations to carry it; Nanami and Yano could be any pair of teenagers trying to figure out their hearts and their lives. Even the (figurative) ghost of Nana-san overshadowing their relationship isn't all that unusual, although fortunately the lost loves that so many people feel that they're in competition with usually aren't actually dead. This volume is a bit less heartbreaking than usual, but given the series' track record I'm sure that's just a lull. Still a lovely piece of work. Volume 5 of We Were There includes a bonus story set a few years before the series' main story. Review copy provided by VIZ Media. Think you could have written a better review of We Were There v5? Write us and we'll probably let you give it a shot! --EiC PC |
6 October 2009
|
||||
 |
| home | reviews | news | features | about us | advertise | privacy policy | contact us |
